Talent ID: Which characteristics are associated with sporting success? - 10.2

Question 1

Rees et al. (2016)

Answer 1

see notes

Question 2

the performer characteristics

Answer 2

birthdate

genetics

anthropometric and physiological factors

psychological skills and motivational orientations

personality traits

Question 3

birthdate

Answer 3

Relative Age Effect (RAE)

Over representative of those born at start of year

Under representation of those born at end of year

RAE not consistent

Eliminates as athletes get older

May disappear by elite level – become reversed – younger in the year have longer careers

Question 4

genetics

Answer 4

Not if but which

Explains 20-80% of variance at non-elite level

Heritable component to: 
 Agility 
 Sprinting 
 Jumping 
 Throwing 
 Kinematics 
 Reaction time 
 Personality/Character 
 Injury risk 

Heritable but reversible – gene expression – not all genes expressed in the same way – e.g. mothers activity levels – functional adaption to training

Genetics can be modifiable

Influenced from different generations

Question 5

anthropometric and physiological factors

Answer 5

Height, weight, (lean) body mass, bone mineral content/density, limb length/circumference, amount of adipose tissue, jumping/sprinting ability, strength, VO2max,

Aerobic capacity, Anaerobic endurance, Anaerobic power

Use limited by:
 Individual variability in growth
 Instability of physiological/anthropometric in adolescence

Biological maturation – difficult to predict what they will be like when they are an adult

Question 6

psychological skills and motivational orientations - more successful athletes

Answer 6

display:
 Higher levels of motivation
 Higher levels of confidence and perceived control – elite feel more in control of their actions
 Higher levels of mental toughness/resilience – ability to cope is characteristic of elite performers
 Better ability to cope with adversity
 Greater resistance to choking
 Wide range of mental skills

Question 7

psychological skills and motivational orientations - elite athletes

Answer 7

 Base perceptions of competence on personal improvements
 Have strong ego orientation to formulate perceptions of confidence by comparing performance
 Display self-determined motivation – stronger level of motivation
 Higher levels of extrinsic motivation

High evidence that psychological factors are a predictor

Question 8

personality traits

Answer 8

More successful athletes display: 
 Greater conscientiousness 
 Dispositional optimism 
 More hope 
 Adaptive perfectionism – only up until the point where it is useful
 Narcissism 

Moderate evidence

Personality profiling should be used for talent development but NOT talent ID

Question 9

the Wonderlic test

Answer 9

Invented in the 1930s

No evidence to support usefulness – but no other profiling options

Teams in the NFL have been using the Wonderlic as a tool to assess players for about 30 years

It’s used during the February scouting combine

It’s a twelve-minute, fifty-question test used to assess the aptitude of prospective employees for learning and problem-solving in a wide range of occupations.

A score of 20 is intended to indicate average intelligence (corresponding to an intelligence quotient of 100; a rough conversion is accomplished via the following formula: IQ = 2WPT + 60

Question 10

Wonderlic higher scoring applicants

Answer 10

learn more rapidly

master more complex material

exercise better judgment

Question 11

Wonderlic lower scoring applicants

Answer 11

require more time

need detailed task instruction

require less challenging job routines.

Question 12

average scores in the Wonderlic test

Answer 12

Offensive tackle - 26

Center - 25

Quarterback - 24

Guard - 23

Tight end - 22

Safety - 19

Linebacker - 19

Cornerback - 18

Wide receiver - 17

Fullback – 17

Halfback - 16

Pat McInally is the only football player to record a confirmed perfect score of 50 – coaches don’t like outliets

An average football player usually scores ~ 20

Average participant from other professions scores ~ 24.

Examples of scores from everyday professions included:

Chemist - 31 Programmer - 29 Journalist - 26 Sales - 24 Bank teller - 22 Clerical worker - 21 Security guard - 17 Warehouse – 15

Players scores make big headlines Nick Saban – helped players cheat on the test

Question 13

the environment - birthplace

Answer 13

o In the UK populations of 10,000 - 29,999 are more likely to produce Olympic athletes
o Areas between 500,000 and 999,999 are disadvantaged
o World Class Programme (WCP):

2. 1 x more likely to be born in medium sized town (50,000- 99,999)
3. 5 x more likely to attend primary school in a very small village (<1999 residents)

3x more likely to attend secondary school in a very small village (<1999 residents)

Birthplace or place of early development? – and why does this matter?

Question 14

the env - support

Answer 14

Crucial during developmental years

Coaches can enhance development of psychological skills/mental toughness

Question 15

the env - athlete support programmes

Answer 15

Junior success does not predict senior success

Considerable annual turnover of athletes

Younger recruitment = younger exit

Higher levels of elite success = higher age of recruitment

Super-elite are recruited to support programmes at later ages than elite – going in young doesn’t help you

Talent transfer athletes (aged 16-25) can reach performance of elite peers within 12 months

Question 16

Gullich et al. (2019)

Answer 16

see notes

Question 17

Great British Medallists Project

Answer 17

Participants were 32 former GB athletes from Olympic sports, 16 Super-Elite athletes and 16 matched Elite athletes

Factor most predictive of success = adversity in early life

Do we create survivable failure opportunities?

Is this just a predisposition – pick ‘tougher’ kids

Links to Relative Age Effect (kids who make it despite being young are likely to succeed)

Question 18

2 groups different with regard to

Answer 18

1. the experience of a foundational negative life event coupled with a foundational positive sport related event – main distinguishing factor – there will be many people that have had a negative life events but aren’t elite athletes
2. the experience of a career turning point that enhanced motivation and focus for their sport;
3. need for success;
4. obsessiveness and/or perfectionism with regard to training and performance;
5. ruthlessness and/or selfishness in the pursuit of their sporting goals;
6. dual focus on both mastery and outcome; and
7. the use of counterphobic attitudes and/or total preparation to maintain higher levels of performance under pressure;
8. the relative importance of sport over other aspects of life.
9. More diversified sporting experiences

Question 19

ECFC academy aims

Answer 19

see notes

Sell-ons, bench-warmers and fill-ins: the life of Perimier League academy graduates (Barney Ronay)
o Zach Fagan spent 12 years with Arsenal but the glitter of the Premier League proved an illusion experienced by many youngsters, some picked up at the age 4, in a flawed system
o Afobe was spotted by Arsenal at six. Lingard has been at United since he was seven, Borthwick-Jackson a year younger. This is now standard. There are stories of some academies refusing to look at eight year olds because they will have “picked up bad habits”. Joe Willock, an Arsenal scholar, joined when he was four after being spotted juggling a ball on the touchline watching his older brother Chris.
o Premier League clubs will now run a variety of training hubs, enough to work around the rules about formal contracts being signed only at nine years old. Not to mention feeding thousands of doomed dreams among easily distracted infants and their extended families of a future among the footballing heavyweights.
o Plus there is the question of what exactly all this is doing to the players themselves. A huge amount of human wastage takes place. “Give 100% to everything you do and you will get there in the end,” reads a line from the introduction to the Arsenal academy brochure. But this can’t be true. Only Jack Wilshere has made it at Arsenal as a genuine academy product since Ashley Cole…

Question 20

ECFC academy ‘four corner model’

Answer 20

see notes

Question 21

influential characteristics for development in elite youth football

Answer 21

see notes

Question 22

age specific talent identification

Answer 22

see notes

Question 23

match analysis

Answer 23

see notes

Reliability in Possession

Question 24

PCE

Answer 24

see notes

Question 25

speed seems important

Answer 25

see notes

Question 26

size less so (anthropometric)

Answer 26

see notes

Question 27

RAE (abstract from data)

Answer 27

The relative age effect (RAE) refers to the bias influence of birth date distribution, with athletes born later in the selection year being under-represented in youth talent development systems.

However, a ‘relative age effect reversal’ (RAER) has also shown that younger birth quarter (BQ) athletes are then over-represented among those who successfully transition from youth systems to senior professional status.

Accordingly, the purpose of this study was twofold; 1) to provide a further test of the RAE (n=192), and 2) to examine the existence of the RAER in an English professional football club academy (n=364).

Sig skewed (ps<0.001) birth rate distributions were found for both current (BQ1 n = 79, BQ2 n = 60, BQ3 n = 34, BQ4 n = 19) and retrospective (BS1 n = 145, BQ2 n = 108, BQ3 n = 54, BQ4 n = 57) player data

The distribution for retrospective data was also sig skewed for prof contracts awarded with BQ4 over-represented compared to others

These findings suggest that the RAE continues to manifest within an academy setting – RAER shows NQ4s 4x more likely to achieve senior prof status compared to BQ1s

Implications for talent ID and development discussed

Question 28

PCDEQ

Answer 28

MacNamara and Collins (2011)

see notes

Question 29

most football and other sports

Answer 29

see notes

Question 30

rocky road

Answer 30

see notes

Question 31

so what?

Answer 31

Can we tell that what characterises ability early on is predictive of what characterises ability later?

Which factors are most important?

How do we help all players improve where they need to?